Does anyone keep track of their fly weights...

[vicrider 0]

I read about people using different color collars depending on weight of fly. I believe this can definitely make a difference by just remembering the old saw about the only difference between a day on the water and a great day on the water might be one split shot. I have a very accurate cocaine scale (never used for that) that could probably sort the difference between a 16 zebra with brass bead, tungsten bead, tungsten bead with lead and if I'm really going to have a box that I can control depths with I might have to try weighing some of the flies I've tied and see if I can sort some out. 

So how many really keep track of fly weights and does it pay off for you on the river. When I fished egg flies in the North Shore Streams of MN I controlled weight with lead attached. On some of the water I plan to fish this fall I think I can get strata control with weights of fly beads and lead wrap.

Nick

[knotjoe 0]

I do somewhat, but only with the heavier streamers.  For small stuff, I never really saw a need because so much depends on materials and tying style that knowing the precise weight of the bead (or eyes) doesn’t tell me much.  I’m much more relative on the lighter end of streamers simply by tying same fly, different weights.

That last part up there has certainly been worth the effort on many days, very worth doing whether you know exact weight or not.  Just have lighter and heavier, maybe an inbetweener on same chassis and fly recipe.

Sometimes when folks go heavier, they feel compelled to go bigger.  It can work, but the increase in material also tends to cancel-out the extra weight in drift speed, sinkrate, or both.  Flytackle has some pretty low limits on reasonable weights to sling so if I’m gonna go there I want the max sink rate and control in at least a few ideas.  Long time fan of small, but heavy craws and buggers.

I like using the smallest indy possible when indicating, so getting max depth/control in current using as little weight as possible is very alluring.  Smaller streamers maximize effect of whatever weight used, it takes too much added weight for the bigger stuff and the resultant effective indy size can get pretty ridiculous.  Sucks to cast, too.

Unless you are really stuck on proportions, you can probably use tungsten beads alone in various sizes for your #16 Zebra idea.  With light tippets, you will likely notice a big difference just in two or three sizes.  Nice to have same fly in "super light" for the frog water and slow slacky shallows, brass is very nice for that purpose.

[cphubert 0]

I don't weight the fly, but I do mark non bead head sinking patterns tied with lead wire. "Red for lead", a red thread narrow band on the head. When I open my box I can tell a weighted from unweighted pattern. I have used this system for my own flies as I like to have some nymphs and other patterns with & without the lead wire. If I'm tying for someone else I do not mark them unless they ask, I can always add the band later if I keep the flies for my own use.

Can't remember where I read about doing this but it works for me. Not trying to copy Carrie Stevens red band marking as my marking is only a few thread wraps wide to the front of the eye. If you are you can use another color.

[flytire 0]

i do not inventory flies by different weights

for me it would be like keeping a fishing journal.

you make a few entries and sooner than later you find you're no longer making entries and its a waste of time

[Lug Nuts 0]

I try to keep my flies separated by weight on different pages of my fly box (Wheatley swing leaf).  I do not go so far as using my grain scale (for reloading 😀) to measure each individual fly.  I am neither good enough or smart enough for that to be of any benefit!  This style of organization goes out the window if I tie up a few experiments or new patterns...

I’ve not thought of the colored band to separate weight vs non or tungsten vs brass bead, this is a great idea!

Funny you mention a fishing journal, flytire, because every year I begin with an entry for each outing, then maybe once a week, then forget about it.  If anyone gets their hands on that book when I am gone the only reasonable conclusion will be that early season is the best and all that follows must not be noteworthy!

[Sandan 0]

5 hours ago, flytire said:

i do not inventory flies by different weights

for me it would be like keeping a fishing journal.

you make a few entries and sooner than later you find you're no longer making entries and its a waste of time

Agreed. The only thing I do is this: When I use a tungsten bead I put it on the hook, small hole towards the eye. Brass beads the opposite.  I'll use split shot and an indy for precise depth control, Or just high stick it

[tidewaterfly 0]

I used to have a jewelers scale that I used for checking weight of jigs, and some flies. The scale stopped working and I never replaced it. IMO, there's too many possible weight variances to try to keep them all separated. 

I make jigs commercially and have been asked about exact weights a few times. IMO, it's no different than flies, the exact weight isn't important to me, as there's always ways to adjust, and other factors affect fall rates anyway. So, a fly or jig will fall at different rates, even with the same amount of weight added. 

One fellow who asked me about the exact weight, insisted he needed a precise weight, as it fell at ### inches per second & he could determine the exact depth by the amount of line ( he was trolling for Crappies). I told him I can do the same thing by varying the amount of line or counting seconds when casting, that there was other ways to get the same depth. My response to this fellow, was no, I don't get concerned about it exact weight. That with small jigs, I can remove the sprue from pouring and depending how I did that, might change the weight slightly, so I make adjustments when fishing and not get concerned about exact weight. Needless to say he got mad about it. 

OK, if you use mono or fluoro, or in different diameters for your leader or line, that affects the fall rate some. Water temps have some affect, however miniscule, but is does have an affect. Current speeds certainly affect a fly or jigs fall rate. The materials on a fly or jig, also affects the fall rate, so the point is, it's not only about the weight that you start with. We are not discussing a precision items here, and each fly or jig will have some degree of variation anyway. 

I keep plenty of both flies & jigs in my boxes, in a variety of weights, and choose based on what I think might be appropriate for where I'm fishing. If I'm wrong, I change it. I'll try to keep similar weights so that they can be identified, but  like flytire said, there's too many to make any big effort at organizing. 

I've been fishing for around 60 years and fly fishing for over 50, and really have not seen it to be critical to keep weights precise or that well organized. BTW, I also don't use split shots at all, and have not in many, many years. 

[DFoster 0]

Almost all of my nymphs are weighted as I prefer not to use split shot.  So the few that are not weighted I keep together in an area of my nymph box.  I'll usually fish soft hackles/spiders/emergers if the trout are feeding near the surface and save nymphs for bottom water fishing.  That said I've recently been digging around in my unweighted nymph section due to the skinny water resulting from the drought here.

[richmce 0]

years ago i made a list of weights with my friend who had a reloading scale. mostly interested in equalizing how long a piece of .030leadwire = a large dumbell eye. or how long a piece to=a 1/32jighead  i posted the list on a few websites and never had a comment. this must have been 12 yyrsago    dont have the list anymore

[skeet3t 0]

No, I have too many other things to do.

[vicrider 0]

I'm going to go thru a lot of my flies and do a quick check on weights and sort them in a box so I have a better idea of what kind of depth they're going to reach. Richmce, that's the kind of thing an anal mind like mine would have me doing. I've weighed just about every size of brass bead to compare with tungsten and had it all written down but lost it. I tend to go with the articles where knowing general weight of the flies can be important and the random mix I have doesn't even give me a chance of tying on something with an idea of if I've leaded it, which bead is one there, or any other things to give me an idea of depth. I will fix that before the OK DOT begins it's stocking program.

[LasVegasBill 0]

 

IMO, it's important to be able to adjust nymph depth with weight.  Many, many of my outings have been saved by fishing the same nymph a little shallower or deeper. I decided a number of years ago that I get a better drift without splitshot so all my weighted nymphs are weighted with lead wraps and tungsten beads. 

I use a Kingfisher fly box for my nymphs with 9 rows per page and  25 flies per row. (holds @1,000 flies)

First page is unweighted/non-beaded flies used for droppers under terrestrials in shallower pools or runs. 

The remaining nymph pages are indexed for weight. I have  a different section of each page for each different species of nymph I tie (1 section for caddis, 1 for mayfly, one for "the rest" being stonefly - squirmies, etc - , and one for midges)  The Caddis and Mayfly nymphs are tied one style of fly per row.  The heaviest/ largest to smallest/lightest left to right. All my caddis have four turns of lead and the weight is adjusted by size of tungsten bead.  Mayfly is no lead and different size bead. ( I do this because I think the lead makes the Mayfly too thick. )  Easy to see the larger size beads vs. the smallest.  I considered getting more anal with this and actually weighing each fly but you have to draw a line on your obsessions somewhere. 

I have several other boxes ( chironomid, streamer/leach , callibaetis , terrestrial, dry caddis, dry mayfly and softhackle) but none of these are weighted.  

 

 

[vicrider 0]

My gosh LVBill, does obsessive compulsive mean anything to you? I humble myself to you for your efforts at controlling your drifts in a manner few of us are able or willing to do. Are you per chance a guide needing this control to keep yourself in business?

[LasVegasBill 0]

No, just an old retired guy with more time than sense.  In the long run it makes sense to have your flies organized by weight.  It makes fly changes on the water faster and more precise and lets you catch more fish - and for me that's what it's all about.  It's also really easy to identify what flies need to be retied to restock the box. 

[tjm 0]

Back about '80 I got to using a lot of nymphs and all were weighted with wraps of lead from LC trolling line, from a book or magazine article I got the idea of using different weights of the same pattern and marking them by colors of thread used for the head, IIRC,  I used tan for unweighted, black for five turns of lead and red for ten turns of  lead. I don't think beads were available then, I'd never seen any used at any rate.  I kept this up for a couple-three years and then pretty much quit the heavy nymphs, nowadays if they look like nymphs they have five turns, if they have a collar of soft hackle they are unweighted. (I may have quit tying them heavy when Humphreys' book Trout Tactics came out, I recall pictures of a shot rig; but I rarely use nymphs since about '85 when we moved here)

I do think that if you tie them in different weights they need some distinguishing mark, else they will get mixed up sooner or later and you won't know if you are fishing near the top or bouncing bottom. Mine did a few times when all were tied with same thread.

As far as weighing flies it takes about a dozen to register anything on my cheapy gram scale, then do the math so I don't.